Let’s start with this: over the course of the past two years alone, the Federal Reserve has printed approximately 80% of the US dollar supply. The money printing machines must be running around the clock.
(Here’s another fun version of this graph. Can somebody remind me who took office in 2009?)
In January 2020, there was $4.0192 trillion in circulation in America. By November 2021, that number had spiked to $20.354 trillion being in circulation. The money printers were turned on and did not stop.
Now consider that the House of Representatives recently passed the largest spending bill in history – “Build Back Better” [sic]. It’s a $1.7 trillion plan which intends to dump billions of dollars into the fight against “climate change” and in building entitlement programs. Both of these stated goals only serve to bloat the power of politicians over the American people.
And how do you think Americans are going to pay for that? In two ways: by higher taxes and by the printing of more money.
What does all this money printing mean?
Imagine you’re a collector of pre-anti-America baseball cards. Which is more valuable, the baseball card signed by a legend who rarely signed cards, or the card signed by the legend who signed every other object he ever touched?
Obviously, the card by the man who rarely touched a Sharpie. Scarcity helps drive prices.
Now, think of the stock market. Let’s say Sooper Dooper Company issues 5000 shares when they go to market, and that I buy 100 of them. One year later, they decide to split their shares, meaning I now have 200 shares, instead of 100.
Is one share worth as much as it used to be?
Nope. It’s just been halved.
The same principle applies to money.
If money printers are kept running day in and day out for weeks on end, flooding the economy with paper, the money you had put away in your savings account was just devalued. This is exactly what Americans are seeing. Your ability to purchase food, pay your mortgage, keep gas in your truck, and save for your children’s future is quite literally being destroyed.
(All the more reason to check out our free QUICKSTART Guide on food storage.)
What are we being told is the cause?”
Who’s doing all the money printing? The Federal Reserve.
One would quickly come to the conclusion that if money printing drives inflation, and money printers are running non-stop that it’s the money printer responsible for inflation, right?
Thankfully, the Federal Reserve has told us that the massive inflation America is seeing right now is not, in fact, their fault.
According to the Fed, it’s supply chain issues and a tricky labor market that are the factors to blame.
Scarcity drives prices, as we pointed out before with our baseball card example. If I know that everybody wants my Babe Ruth baseball card, I can charge whatever I want. In the same vein, when prices go up for everything, I have to charge more to sell my product. We just looked at this the other day when discussing price controls and the price of chicken feed.
This is being used to justify government overreach into the private market.
According to the White House, it’s greedy corporations who are to blame for rising prices of everything. The mainstream media seems to be echoing this point.
“Corporate giants are raising prices even as they rake in record profits. How can this be? Because of their unchecked power,” we are being told. Of course, are the policies allegedly to be laid down against the companies which have the most money in DC pockets going to actually be used against them?
By no means. This will be used to further destroy mom-and-pop shops which provide Americans with independence.
Consider this: were the big box stores in your region closed during Lockdown or was it the small-town businesses? People were still buying things, were they not? Did people still not need toilet paper, toothpaste, food, and the like? So where were they going for their purchases?
To the only businesses still open, of course: Big Business.
I’m by no means inherently against the idea of Big Business. If you can take your garage business to the moon, go for it. But I am against government intervention – particularly from communists – under the guise of “we love the free market.”
Veiled truth.
Nobody seems to be able to admit that inflation is what is causing the shortages. These people are intelligent enough to know the truth. They’re just not honest enough to tell it.
Robbing people of their jobs, devaluing their currency, dictating policies that create supply chain issues – people don’t do this under the impression that this is all good for the American economy. Only the propagandized are stupid enough to fall for that. People push through these policies knowing exactly what they are doing.
One has to ask, “why?”
What is the purpose of printing money in such quantity? Anybody with a basic understanding of economics knows that if you print more and more money constantly, it makes the existing money supply worth less and less. Why are we seeing this happen to our amazing country?
Is it possible to look at all this – the non-stop money printing, the passing of “legislation” that requires more money printing, the continued chaining of Americans under higher taxes – and not come to the conclusion that this is no accident?
What’s the bottom line?
The bottom line is this:
Your ability as an American to keep your family warm, fed, and to financially provide for their future is systematically and purposefully being destroyed. And you should be upset.
“In future wars, there will be more hostilities like financial warfare, in which a country is subjugated without spilling a drop of blood.” – Unrestricted Warfare
How is inflation affecting you?
Have you seen the prices rising where you are? In what parts of your life is this affecting? Who do you hold responsible for this economic disaster? Share your thoughts in the comments.
About Aden
Aden Tate is a regular contributor to TheOrganicPrepper.com and TheFrugalite.com. Aden runs a micro-farm where he raises dairy goats, a pig, honeybees, meat chickens, laying chickens, tomatoes, mushrooms, and greens. Aden has two published books, The Faithful Prepper and Zombie Choices. You can find his podcast The Last American on Preppers’ Broadcasting Network.
This is the third time in my life I have lived through this. First was in the US in late 70’s early 8o’s. Second was in South Africa late 90’s early 00’s. In the last instance they actually reduced the size of the coins in circulation making the 1 cent piece almost miniscule. We are now clearly on course to a third world collapse.
What you are focusing on is what is right in front of you, not the bigger picture.
Almost every country is facing inflation due to printing money to survive Covid stuff.
We are not alone in it.
But Biden and the Democrats have definitely made it worse, by adding even more printing and spending to the total amounts.
This is a World wide problem that has a World wide implication of an impending Global Economic Disaster.
Inflation and rising prices are only one aspect of our Economic troubles. Global and Domestic supply chain problems are making this much worse than it should be at this point.
The products are not getting unloaded at the docks( we know this) there is an overall shortage of truckers( a well known fact) and the lack of people willing to work in retail establishments under the current Covid restrictions, exacerbates the problem even more.
A proper understanding of the Intel is required to have a proper understanding of any Problem. Making wild accusations or focusing on only one aspect of a problem, is a sure way to get yourself into trouble. Beware of jumping to conclusions or in following those who play Don Quixote.
There is a Wendy’s burger place near me that has been closing at 5 pm due to lack of workers. Yesterday I drove by there and there was a bit crudely painted sign out front hiring ALL positions at $14 hour. The CVS across the street also had a hiring sign, no hourly rate though.
Dear Aden,
I see the hidden paw of the RPC commies and other Eastern elites behind all of this disaster happening in the Western countries as we speak.
They want the resources of South America and Africa; and the technology and patents of the Western World to instate a global dictatorship.
That’s my take, in one phrase.
I can understand an infrastructure bill ,our roads and bridges are falling apart,sometimes literally. I would support it. In the current bill, a whopping 1% would actually go to roads and bridges. Everything else is social b.s. and pandering to special interests.
because by “infrastructure” is meant leftists political infrastructure.
I blame the Fed, the lack of transparency of the Fed, and Nixon for taking us off the gold standard.
As Aden notes the economic destruction the lockdowns brought upon small businesses, while the Big Box stores saw record profits. I am doing my best to support the small businesses as much as I can.
Members of Congress claim the Big Box stores are the reason for food inflation, yet they continue to take campaign donations from those very same Big Box stores.
This is not capitalism, or even crony capitalism. This is the solidification of an oligarchy. From everything from Big Ag, to Big Pharma, Big Tech and gross government over reach.
The good news is there is and has been push back. Just read an article about a rally against Vaccine Mandates in DC, an estimated 20,000 people attended. It is a start. I know there are more who would of attended if it were not for the distance.
HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher, a life long Democrat and liberal, has been highly critical about the actions the government (Federal) and states have taken. He said recently, “I’ve been to Florida, the atmosphere was just night and day from California, which was gloomy.”
Matt in OK, reports/comments on how things are down in Free America (the chair is against the wall) as he calls it, where they have pretty much gotten on with life and stopped with the lockdowns/mandates.
I know of other people who go into a Big Box store, mask mandates are imposed, but they dont wear a mask. No one says anything to them. No one calls the cops. Even the employees know it is all BS.
Just read the Fed is expected to raise interest rates 3 times this year, maybe even four, and a possible 3 times in 2023. Unless they do something drastic, likely the Fed will be and stay behind the inflation rate as it rises. The official inflation rate is at 6.9%. The unofficial inflation rate, as calculated the old way before the Fed changed the math in the late 90s to make things seem less bad, is at 15%. The good news is your money in the bank might earn some interest. The bad news is it is expected rates hikes will crash the stock market (and your 401k/IRAs) and maybe the real estate market.
Then there is the Canada/US border vaccine mandates for truckers. It is expected to affect up to 12,000 truckers or 10-15% of the trucking drivers. That could impact everything from auto parts to food.
Brace for more empty shelves. The New Normal.
“Just read the Fed is expected to raise interest rates 3 times this year, maybe even four, and a possible 3 times in 2023 … expected rates hikes will crash the stock market (and your 401k/IRAs) and maybe the real estate market”
and crush the federal budget.
so … the democrats lose the 2022 midterms decisively, just as all this crashing kicks in?
Moving off the gold standard was the beginning of the end economically
I just got a $60 COLA increase in my Social Security. My foodstamps went from $250 a month to $25! Someone explain the math to me?
Dianne, You think the government has your interests as a concern ? They just want your vote–and your continued income tax.
I wrote the following notes recently to explain the history of counterfeiting, including why and how governments get into that racket, and how they keep the details obscured. Once you understand that history, it helps to explain why government obsessively tries to keep their counterfeiting monopoly of theft of your purchasing power out of the media and any verbal indictment of their counterfeiting out of government-approved “public” indoctrination schoolbooks.
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To understand the forces tugging against crypto, it helps to know a little monetary history. Back in the 1500s it was common for European goldsmiths to store gold for customers for safekeeping, and issue them a certificate for that exact value of the gold. Such certificate then often traded as money in the marketplace. Some goldsmiths discovered that with many customers not coming in very often to redeem their actual gold, those goldsmiths could issue more certificates than they had gold for backing. When caught committing such a crime it was bad news for those evil doers. Then some banks caught on to that racket.
When an English king, to fund his favorite wars, jacked up the tax rate above what the English population would tolerate, the torches and pitchforks crowd cut off his head. So to prevent that from happening again, the English central bank was created in 1694 so that the bank could issue currency in excess of gold on deposit. The result was that the Crown could steal purchasing power from the population in excess of gold-backed funds without the vast majority having any understanding of how they were being cheated. Basically, counterfeiting had been nationalized in a way that the government-shielded perpetrators could not suffer losing their heads.
The Crown then not only cheated their population of purchasing power that way, but also tried to control their colonies. When the Crown banned American colonies from issuing their own local currency in use, it created an awful depression (that Ben Franklin said was one huge motivation for our Revolution). Then once the Revolution was underway, the Crown then counterfeited the American Continental Congress-generated money in order to make it as worthless as possible. The combination of American over-printing plus British counterfeiting led to near starvation as the expression “not worth a continental” entered the vocabulary.
Memories of that near starvation was still fresh with survivors of our Revolution when our 1792 Coinage Act mandated the death penalty for making anything other than genuine pure silver as coinage. Not until Lincoln produced his greenbacks did anyone dare such counterfeiting again.
With that history in mind, the British, with plans to suck America into the coming European civil war, in 1912 shipped enough secret money across the Atlantic to fund a Ross Perot-style third party run by Teddy Roosevelt (via the Bull Moose Party) to suck enough votes away from Taft so the British favorite, Woodrow Wilson, would be a shoo-in. It worked. They could count on Wilson to sign off on the coming Bank of England counterfeiting clone (our Federal Reserve central bank), to sign off on the IRS creation, to sign off on ripping US Senator selection and recall rights away from the state legislatures to become a high dollar auction among corrupt oligarchs, and to cooperate in sucking Americans into WWI by whatever evil deceit necessary (including the murder of Americans sailing on the 1915 Lusitania).
The Federal Reserve counterfeiting of the US dollar to fund our efforts during WWI was measureable in that such theft of purchasing power jacked up American prices by about 25% by the war’s end.
During the 20th century I’ve seen claims that almost all of the US dollar’s value had been stolen by Federal Reserve counterfeiting. The WWII wartime 3 cent stamp price had at last count been raised to 55 cents in recent memory.
That long history is to make the point that when governments get into the counterfeiting racket to steal additional purchasing power from their population in order to meet what political goals are deemed vastly more important than anything “we the people” could ever justify, governments never give up that spending addiction until they wreck the currency. A history of such fiat currency destruction goes back thousands of years.
That history is to explain why governments with such spending addictions will do everything possible to preserve their monopoly on counterfeiting. Such weapons against monopoly-breaking crypto currencies might include stiff taxation, burdensome regulation, and even outright prohibitions. The possible complexities could be endless. One extreme example is China which has banned all other cryptos while they organize their own government-controlled crypto. What a surprise.
The US government is one of only a couple of nations that lays claim to part of its citizens’ earnings from anywhere in the world, although the current exemption on foreign earnings covers about the first $110,00 or so. So if you want to take your first $110,000 in earnings free of IRS taxes, you can do that by living in some other country.
I don’t claim to be current on the present crime syndicate’s plans in Washington to penalize crypto as needed to preserve the Fed’s counterfeiting racket, but it’s a certainty that there will be such efforts. [Since I wrote this, the SEC has announced it is “looking into” regulating crypto — and central banks around the world are scarfing up gold as fast as possible.] So anyone considering really substantial transactions using crypto of ANY of the several thousand flavors of it must be aware of Washington’s long history of counterfeiting and their certain unwillingness to give up that monopoly without a bitter fight.
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–Lewis
I don’t know if it’s kosher to post other websites to check out, but there’s a woman who happens to live here in Phoenix where I am named Lynette Zang from ITM Trading. I highly recommend her videos for an explanation of what’s BEEN happening and what’s happening NOW. She’s a great educator, especially regarding the Central Banks, and is a prepper at heart. Her company trades in gold, but she always emphasizes “food, water, shelter, communications, barterability, security and community” in her talks. She knows that gold is just one small part of preparing for what’s coming. She’s developed a community farm at her home here in Phoenix, and has also established a large bugout location outside of the Valley.
I also recommend George Gammon, especially his “chalkboard” videos. They’re a huge help in understanding what the Central Banks are up to.
I don’t know who to place blame on. CB’s, Woodrow Wilson,FDR,LBJ,Nixon,Congress, Bernanki,corporate America,Wall Street,Main Street, or every household on any street USA. Blame at this point, I feel, is irrelevant.
Last year Russia quietly realigned its national savings portfolio. Where US dollars used to occupy 90% of it national financial reserves they have restructured so that the euro now holds 40% the yuan 30% , gold 20%, and some yen and British pound. In other words, Russia dumped the dollar.
Interesting,.. euro,yuan,yen and pound. The four largest trading partners Russians have in raw materials, commodities and finished goods. All this comes after another pile of sanctions post 2020 election for “interfering”. So, now the new threat is deny SWIFT access. But this would screw Western Europe countries. And on the back side Russia and Chinese attempts to decouple and trade $500B/year in crude didn’t work exactly as planned…
I’m not pro-Russia. I’m just using them as an example that the world seems to be weary of our central bank shenanigans and copious printing of a petrodollar that isn’t holding is reserve status as promised. It’s so screwed up nobody knows what to do and maybe none of them even care anymore.
I will toss out one name for consideration in the blame game though. Aberham Lincoln. Instead of being assassinated, he should have been arrested, tried for counterfeiting, found guilty under section 19 of the Coinage Act of 1792 and shot according to the law for printing greenbacks.Maybe, just maybe, if that would have happened we wouldn’t al be wondering who to blame.
Just came home from my local Sam’s here in Arkansas. A package of 3 steaks was $51.66. A rack of (uncooked) ribs was $48.33. Crab legs were $45.98 / lb. God help large families!
We are a large family. I thank God for some unfortunate circumstances in our life years ago that forced me to become frugal and learn depression Era shopping and cooking methods, how to eat well and healthy on a small budget, and how to build a pantry. That being said, my most recent trip to Aldi set me back $130 and they didn’t have about 30% of my list. That same list with the missing items 6 months ago was about $70. No wonder food and gasoline are excluded from the inflation numbers. Can’t wait to see what it will be next time (sarc) but I will keep buying and putting back until I can’t.
“I will keep buying and putting back until I can’t”
don’t forget growing and putting back.
What is backing all that money up from those that create it? NOTHING! It’s also unconstitutional and Congress soul’d us out a long time ago to the fiat money creators for that very purpose. To compensate they created another unconsitutional agency they called the IRS to get some of it back.
So with illegal interest from the bankers and illegal taxes from the government, they managed to permanently enslave US all as the working class and skim from our hard work whilst they sit back and enjoy their comfy chairs.
Oh, you have a nice day now…..
“What is backing all that money up from those that create it?”
“the assets and property of the united states”. that’s what.
Well they certainly must value it pretty good to go $125+ trillion in debt for. No wonder? It’s MONOPOLY money. (No pun intended).
You are missing the longer term point. The protections that helped keep costs low have been serially reduced or removed, often by Conservatives in office. The protections that helped keep the supply chain flexible have also been reduced.
This results in what we saw when folk were terminated due to the pandemic onset. Sudden drops in available goods, at a time when goods were needed. Now, it’s a “sellers market”, and the missing protections are fueling inflation.
(The “in the same vein” argument works best when the arguments are equal. In your example, selling a unique or nearly unique item is not the same as having to spend more for the raw materials that you convert into goods that you need to sell to maintain your business. A comparable example for the latter is raising lemonade stand prices when the cost of lemons or sugar (or water) went up. A comparable example of the former is when you see a friend sell his crappy Beta Black Lotus for $1000, and you realize that you can sell your near-mint Unlimited Black Lotus for $2000 (instead of the $50 you were thinking about). The examples you gave are not the same argument. Or we’d be considering selling calendar prints of Norman Rockwell’s work for the SAME price as his original signed work. (And magazines would not dare print pictures of a signed Babe Ruth card for fear of devaluing the card.))
As to currency, how much currency is being removed from the market. If the amount being removed is comparable to the amount being printed, then the balance is neutral, just frightening. Otherwise, … yes, the printing is worrisome. (The small-change shortage suggests that something else was going on, that might necessitate printing money.)
(Or the supposedly incipient solar crisis, or concurrent magnetic field crash, may necessitate massive on-hand cash reserves when we lose the internet or electricity for several months. A few points regarding this: we had a C-class flare recently and the Kp index hit 6; 5 years ago, a similar flare caused Kp 3s; Kp 9 = loss of electricity where visible powerlines exist; 5 years ago, we knew the earth had lost about 20% of it’s strength since to early 1800s; as of last year, the Earth had lost another 15% and was up to losing 5% per decade; last month, we learned that Earth’s field was down 5% more in 11 months. All that, plus the high probability of getting hit by an X1-X10 in the next 5 years, makes for worries about the electronic money supply. Notes: an A1 flare is 1% of a C1 flare, and an X1 is 100x (10,000%) of a C1 flare. Also, B-class flares (10% of C-class) have been pushing us up into Kp 4.)
I forgot to add that the logarithmic scale for flares is A-B-C-M-X; that sub-A flares are often hidden by the solar wind; and that past X1 the numbers are numeric. (X2 = 2 X1’s in strength, X11 = 11 X1’s in strength, X20 = 20 X1’s in strength, etc.)
“What is the purpose of printing money in such quantity?”
the dollar is not fiat currency. it is fiat debt currency. they don’t simply create it and send it on its way. it is LOANED, at interest. every dollar created and loaned means the borrower must repay with interest. and the interest does not exist – it must be loaned into existence, thus creating more debt. if the new debt is not created to service the old, and is defaulted upon, then asset confiscations are authorized (“the united states and all its assets”) to “recoup” the “debt”.
the dollar is a ponzi scheme.
the purpose of printing money to such quantity is to drive default, and thus asset confiscation.
So what else is new?
Is this intentional?
The New World Order, Great Reset, or what ever you want to call it, can’t happen until the United States is brought gown.
Cogitate on that.
if the u.s. is brought down, what will be left? china will collapse in a storm of bankruptcies, europe will be little better than the u.s., and every remaining economy will hunker down into protectionism making everything worse.
This was a very informative article, but this word inflation is being misused by the media. The true definition of inflation is a increase in the money supply, and price increases are a result of that. Of course today it is misused all over today and the media. One great source to learn about economics is Richard Maybury and his newsletter Early Warning Report, much free information on his home site. I have received a great education in this field on his site and newsletter. It is part geopolitical and investment advisory with his books also written for even a child can understand. We started having Socialism come into our country in the late 1800”s and John Dewey set up our factory school system. The schools have intense pressure in the schools and today the suicide rate is intense.
Also I have learned from Doug Casey, Jim Rogers, Peter Schiff and others. They all use Austrian economics on the Mises site. I hope all are aware of Keynesian as is classic Socialism which the fed uses and the government.
Thank You every one.
The US mint prints Federal Reserve Notes.
The FR buys FRN from the US government for the cost of the printing. [ 3-5 cents for each G. Washington; 14-18 cents for each Bennie; total cost is in F R Annual Report to Congress]
The FR puts all new FRNotes into circulation via commercial banks.
Ref. https://genzconservative.com/the-federal-reserve-for-dummies/#_ftn3 FEDERAL RESERVE FOR DUMMIES
“The easiest way to overthrow a government is to debauch the currency.” Lenin, paraphrased.
NOTE: Who is it that would be debauching the U.S. currency—and who is it that would replace the past structure ?
“Give me control of a nations money supply, and I care not who makes it’s laws.” Mater Amschel Rothschild, founder of the Rothschild banking dynasty
Congress–and Biden–approves deficit spending [i.e., the U.S. Treasury is authorized to send a deficit Treasury security to the FRBNY. The FRBNY credits a government account with the amount of the security. The US Treasury spends the credit to suppliers.]
When the government’s check is deposited in a commercial bank, the bank will issue Bennies [obtained from the Fed] to the public.
QUESTION: What happens to the deficit Treasury security received by FRBNY ?
ANSWER: It is part of Treasury securities auctioned [appx $14 trillion annually] by the FRBNY.
Those accounts have never been audited.
Question: Then where does the money go ?
You are either willfully lying or ignorant. The Fed changes how it measures M1 in 2020 which accounts for the very large increase.
https://fredblog.stlouisfed.org/2021/05/savings-are-now-more-liquid-and-part-of-m1-money/?
“Just run the presses — print money,” Trump told Cohn, the former No. 2 at Goldman Sachs, according to the book.